Title : The Motorcycle Diaries (Diários de Motocicleta)

Director : Walter Salles

Writers : Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (book "Notas de vijae)
Alberto Grando (book "Con el Che por America Latina)
Jose Rivera (screenplay)


The Motorcycle Diaries is the English title for the original Brazilian (or is it Argentinian?) film Diários de Motocicleta...which tells the story of a road trip embarked upon by 2 young lads on their motorcycle with the aim to see and experience the continent of South America of which they have only read in books... The 2 main characters are Alberto Grando, a 29yr old Biochemist and Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, a much younger medical student who is about to acquire his MD n who later became known to the world as Che Guevara....

The Tag line of the film reads Before he changed the world, the World changed him.... True to tht, the story basically illustrates the road trip that young Che went, which showed him his life's true calling... But don't be mistaken, its only the sparks that ignited his thoughts that are being brought on the celluloid... Those expecting to see the biography of Che are goin to be terribly disappointed... The film is based on the book written by the close friend of Che, Alberto Grando with whom Che set out for this adventure... The film unfolds itself from the viewpoints of Che himself n his Diary entries... n never does the character of Alberto interferes the flow of the film as a story teller... He stays there by Che's side as a dedicated friend though he grows poles apart from him in character and outlook as young Ernesto undergoes the metamorphosis to become Che... The story never dwells into the inner minds of Che nor does it provide us with an exceptionally satisfying reason of Ernesto's transformation to Che... It simply flows from incidents to incidents tht Alberto along with Ernesto aka Che shared on their trip together... to quote the movie itself 'Its not a story of heroic or great deeds but a story of 2 lives captured in a moment when they were cruising together'....

The metamorphosis of an young lad to the most influential revolutionist of all times is not the main theme that this film intents to portray... Rather its the homage to him from a dedicated friend... Not even for a single moment does the film tends to exhibit a commercialised nature trying to sell off Che... The growth of a character from a simple ashtmatic young medical student in love to someone who is truly humanitarian forms the basic plot... The growth of the character with the progress of the journey is well categorized n lucidly depicted with charm... Many characters come n go but the 2 central characters stay, influenced n moulded in different ways by those who pass by... The film ends not where the usual films of this genre ends, but just at the beginning of the Che's final transformation....

Dwelling into the details of technicality, one fails to notice these aspects as the story grips n drags u along with it... But to say about for the sake of a review, the film though was shot recently has not tried to be picture perfect or present a beautiful locale with all its grandeur n glory... The lack of a crystal clear frame is not goin to hinder this movie experience, believe me on tht!! The script is taught n sturdy with the dialogues (though i read the subtitles) to the point n apt... Direction is top notch with all the right ingredients in the right quantity n proportion... The post production departments of Editing n BG scores have added to the quality of the finished product...

I highly recommend this film n include it in the Category of Must Watch.... n goes with a rating of 4/5....